How to gain muscle mass

Adding muscle mass can be a big chore if you don’t do it properly, you can end up not gaining any size or worse yet get fat. In order to gain lean muscle mass you will want to have a good solid diet in check. Protein is very important for adding serious muscle mass, you will want to keep your protein intake at 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight to add size. As far as carbohydrates go you will want to play with your numbers to see how your body responds. Keep a log as you go if you start gaining more than a pound a week back you carbohydrates down.

Taking supplements for building muscle mass can help give you a little advantage on your gains. There are a lot of supplements on the market today so picking ones that can add serious muscle mass can be a chore. One of the best on the market today has been used by athletes for years to add muscle mass to their physiques. Creatine is probably one of the strongest natural supps you can get for adding lean muscle. Taking this product with a good diet in place will help you add lean muscle within a few weeks time. Taking these supplements is like adding racing parts to your car.

How you train will play a big part in gaining mass, you will want to use heavy weights with a rep range of 6 to 8 reps with 4 to 5 sets per muscle group. Remember to spend as much time concentrating on the negative rep as you do the positive. This is the time that the muscle will be under the most tension and can spark the most growth.

Cardio:

During a bulking phase you will want to slow your cardio down but it is still important to keep doing it. I suggest just walking on the treadmill at a 2.8 to 3.0 speed for 20 to 30 minutes a day. This will help you from completely falling off the wagon and getting fat.I sometimes take a fat burning supplement to help lower my body fat during cardio.

Recovery:

Keep in mind that all of your meals are important during this phase of your training but one of the most important meals will be your post workout meal. This meal will help speed up the recovery process you just put your muscles through. I normally like to use a good protein shake right after my workout. I normally complement this with a good protein source such as sweet potatoes or oats. This will help replenish the glycogen levels in the muscle that you just depleted from training. About 20 to 30 minutes after my training I will use a good BCAA product to also help speed up my recovery time.

Pre-training I like to use something to get me ready for the gym, let’s face it after 25 plus years of training there are days I just don’t want to go but I force myself too. On those days I normally use a Mesomorph Pre workout to get me moving.

So there you have a simple breakdown on how to gain some muscle. I do have one more thing to add if you are over the age of 35 and are wanting to build some muscle you will have one more step. At this age your testosterone levels decrease so you will want to use some type of natural test booster or get TRT from a doctor. This will help get your hormone levels back up to where they should be and help you achieve the gains you are looking for. Everyone uses supplements or suplementos even in San Juan Puerto Rico.

Lose your gut

Most women fight fat issues in their butts and thighs while men always seem to gain fat in the stomach area. Today we are going to give you a few tips to losing that nasty looking gut. Sure you could do it the easy way and hire a plastic surgeon but that cost a lot of money.

As us guys get older we notice that its harder and harder to stay lean like we did when we were younger. This is due to natural hormones dropping off as we age. If you are under the age of 30 you probably haven’t experienced this yet, if you have then you may want to go get your testosterone levels checked. Low test can cause a decrease in muscle mass and strength and A increase in body fat. The tips we are about to talk about will work but if you are over that magic age of 30 than you may want to start taking a natural test boosting supplement to help prevent low test levels.

Ok let’s get into how to trim that stomach up, first we need to get up off our ass and do a little bit of exercise. So let do 2 days of cardio for 30 minutes a day and 2 days of weight training 2 days a week. On the weight training days you will need about 35 to 45 min to get in a good training routine. Get in and out don’t screw around while you are at the gym.

On the two days of cardio just get out and walk or jump on a treadmill for 30 minutes each day. This will help decrease your body fat by buring your calorie intake. On weight training day number one you will train legs with the following exercises.

This will help tone your overall muscle and help burn fat and also eat up some calories while training.

Now let’s talk diet, in order to slim down that gut we will need to increase our eating times throughout the day. Meaning instead of only eating 3 meals a day we will eat 5 to six smaller meals with clean high protein foods. Each of the 5 meals should have a protein source, fat source and carbohydrate source. I will list out some good food below so you know what to eat. Ok let’s talk about what not to eat, NO simple sugars which are in the forms of candy, pop, ice cream and sugar. These will prevent you from reaching your goals and that six pack you have always wanted. Bad fats such as beef fat, trans fat and fats from cheese these should all be avoided at all cost. You will also want to stay away from carbs like pasta and bread.

Ok let’s look at the foods you should focus on.

Protein:

Chicken

Eggs

Lean beef

Fish

lean pork

Protein powder

Fats:

Nuts

Egg yolks

Olive oil

Avocado

Carbohydrates

Red potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Brown rice

White rice (after workouts)

Vegies

Follow this food plan and you will see results in about 3 to 6 weeks.

Finishing touches:
Once you put your workouts and meal plan together and you start to see some inches fall off let’s step up the game by throwing in some nightly crunches. Start with 15 crunches on the first night before bed, each day from there on increase that number by 1 so in 10 days you will be at 25 crunches and so on. Within a few months you will be a sit up machine sporting a much smaller stomach. Now get off your ass and go get those ab’s!

Why we need fiber

Do you know the reason why fiber is good for your health? Fiber is an important part of the healthy balanced diet. Fiber is only found in food that comes from a plant such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains which our body does not digest. Foods like fish, meat and dairy products doesn’t consist of any fiber. Without enough fiber in your diet, you will have constipation, sluggishness, and irregularity. Insufficient fiber can also lead to an increase in the risk of colon cancer, and another serious health disease. There are two different types of fiber:
Soluble fiber: This are fiber that dissolves in water to form a gel-like texture, thereby helping to slow down digestion. Examples of soluble fiber are oats, oat bran, cucumbers, blueberries peas, rice bran, beans, apples, citrus fruits, psyllium, and barley.
Insoluble fiber: This is the type of fiber that supports the movement of material through the digestive tract and add bulk to your stool. An example of insoluble fiber are nuts, dark green leafy vegetables, green beans, wheat flour, potatoes, Brussel sprouts, celery, wheat bran, and cabbage.
Each type of fiber helps your body in different ways, so a normal healthy diet must consist of both types of fibers. If you need to increase your fiber intake, it is important that you do it gradually. Below are some healthy importance of eating enough fiber:
Achieving healthy weight: Eating high fiber food will help you to feel full for a longer period and leading to a reduction in calories intake. Fiber supplements have been shown to enhance weight loss among obese. This is due to the fact that you are likely to eat less and stay satisfied for a longer period.
Indigestion and constipation: Fiber is importantly used in the digestion of food. It absorbs water and adds bulk to your stool. It helps the stool to be soft and big, therefore making it easier to pass through the digestive tract. This stimulates regularity and reduces constipation. Eating fiber-rich diet will cure constipation, thereby helping to avoid any other serious health condition that may occur.
Control blood sugar level: For those having diabetes, fiber particularly soluble fiber found in psyllium, legumes, and bran can reduce the absorption of sugar and help balance the blood sugar levels.
Lower cholesterol level: Soluble fiber found in beans, oats, and flaxseed may help in reducing bad lower density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in the body. Soluble fiber may also lead to a decrease in risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease in individual eating high amounts of dietary fiber.
Prevent stroke: Increase in fiber consumption lower the risk of stroke by lowering your blood pressure, which is one of the major factors to higher risk of stroke. Lower cholesterol is also another factor in lowering risk of stroke. The combination of lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol could be enough to prevent you from a stroke.
Prevent cancer: medical professionals also suggest that fibrous food helps in protecting against colorectal cancer, breast cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer. But the evidence is still inconclusive.

Get in shape with weights

When people are starting a new exercise regime in order to lose weight they often focus on cardio as this will burn more calories. They may also be concerned that they will look to big if they do too much weight training which is certainly not the case. Weight training also has a number of benefits and therefore should form some part of any training program that you undergo. Some of these benefits are described below, and you will start to experience some of these benefits as soon as you start weight training.

Burn More Calories

When you take part in weight training, you will be increasing the amount of lean muscle that you have in your body. Muscle burns more calories than fat pound for pound, and this means that you will be increasing your metabolism and burning more calories even when you are resting. When you each your target weight, this can make it easier for you to maintain your weight loss. Muscle does weigh more than fat so even if you are not seeing much difference on the scale, you should be able to notice positive changes in your body shape.

Reduce Risk Of Injury

Weight training encourages your muscles and tendons to become stronger. When this happens you are more able to withstand the kind of stress on your muscles that may lead to an injury. You will also be more flexible which makes it less likely that you will suffer from problems with your back. This type of training also helps to increase bone density and this can reduce the likelihood of you suffering from osteoporosis when you are older.

Improves Overall Health

Your risk of suffering from a number of serious illnesses and medical conditions decreases when you take part in weight training on a regular basis. These include things such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. You may also find that you have lower blood pressure and if you do lose some weight while you are training then you will also experience the other health benefits that are associated with weight loss.

A Little Effort Goes A Long Way

You do not have to spend hours in the gym in order to see the benefits of weight training. Two twenty minute sessions a week could be all you need to start seeing a difference in how toned your body is. Try to ensure that you pick exercises that work all of the muscle groups and be careful not to overdo things. Remember that you need to give your muscles time to recover and so you should leave at least a day between workouts.

You do not need a lot of expensive equipment to carry out strength workouts and there are many exercises that you can carry out at home so you do not even need to join a gym. The benefits that are explained above show that weight training is something that will only improve your health and help you lose weight, so there really is no reason why you can’t get started straightaway.

Proper way to squat

Squats are a functional exercise that should be incorporated into your weight training routine. But even if you’re not doing them for muscle growth, you will still need some squat strength when it comes to getting out of the chair and picking something down on the floor. And as you get older, you realize that the correct amount of squat strength will be absolutely critical if you want good health and long life.

With that said, it can only be emphasized that squatting is a technique that requires skill. So if you’ve not been getting it right, the following tips will show you how do to them with weights to gain more muscle mass.

Hip hinge

Most people squat with butts lower into the ground, knees protruding over their toes, while heels are lifted off the ground. This happens because they lack hip flexibility and balance which is essential when it comes to doing them correctly.

Now, the correct way of doing them is to hinge your hips so that your buttons can move behind you during the downward phase. The pressure that is exerted on your legs should be felt on the heels, not on the toes. This is the correct way to get more depth with your squats especially when you have weights in your arms.

Head position

Proper balance is essential when it comes to squatting with weights. You see, when squatting normally, your center of gravity is somehow thrown off balance, and this makes it a very dangerous exercise when done with excessive weights.

To avoid this risk, just pick a center of focus on the wall and fix your eyes there as you go downwards and upwards. This will automatically keep you looking ahead instead of downwards.

Chest should be out while shoulders backwards

You want to keep proper alignment of the spine when doing squats with some heavy weights. So to keep your lower back in the correct curve, you should protrude your chest out and shoulders slightly backwards. If you choose to sink in your chest and consequently your shoulders, you will interfere with the proper alignment of your spine. This is not good for your balance.

Stabilization using athlete’s stance

To get more stabilization as you go through the phases, you can assume the famous athlete stance. In this stance, your knees should be slightly bent while your feet firmly planted on the ground and toes pointing slightly outwards.

The more you work your glutes and harmstring, the more stabilization you achieve when squatting, and this makes your workouts very powerful. And the more you keep your feet close together, the more the front parts of your legs will feel the pressure. This is certainly not good for you.

And when using heavy weights, you will need to observe that your knees are not caving inwards. Also, you will need to lift weight that is appropriate to your strength.

Conclusion

If you can master these tips on how to squat with weights properly, you will achieve faster results than if you did them the traditional way. You will also achieve greater control and balance when doing squats than before. Therefore, you have nothing to lose by altering your current routine and adapting what you have learned here instead.

How important is it to stretch?

Everyone including the aged and pregnant can learn how to stretch. Stretching should always be a part of your daily routine whether you do the regular exercise or not. There are simple ways of stretching that you can do when watching your television or preparing to go to bed. It is not a huge commitment that will stress you but a very simple task.

Stretching is an important component when working out. When stretching, you will create flexibility in all your joints which help you stay in good shape. If you do not stretch, you are likely to suffer muscle cramps or pulls. Therefore, stretching is important when working out but ensure you stretch properly. You have to stretch in a way that you won’t hurt yourself. Below are some tips that will assist stretch the best way without any injuries.

Stretch before workouts

It is a good habit first to warm up for 5 to 10 minutes by stretching to make your joints and muscles loose before starting with your regular workout process. With your joints loose you will feel your body is free and fine to continue with the lifting or running.

Avoid bouncing your stretches

While stretching, you should hold the stretches for approximately thirty seconds and do the same to the other limb. If you feel that you are inflicting pain, then you are going too far. You should not stretch to the extent of feeling pain in the joints or any other body part. Ensure you will not bounce your stretches but hold them steadily.

Perform gentle stretches on daily basis

A stretch is a great practice that will keep you limber and loose. By doing soft and few stretches daily will not hurt you if you are not doing it vigorously.

Stretch the body parts you need to stretch

If you want to work out by running, you do not have to work on your hands too much. You should focus less on your hands and concentrate on stretching your legs. You should do what you want to and feel free considering any part of your body. If you are not tight, you should not stress too much on the stretches.

Aim for flexibility

When performing your stretches, ensure that you will stretch both your right and left side of the body. If you have a feeling that one side is tighter than the other hand, you should stretch that side more.

Stretch after working out

After you have completed your workout, you should reset the position of your body to its natural way. After a days lifting or running, stretching afterwards will assist you by reducing the likelihood of stiffness and soreness hence you could experience the following day.

Stretching appropriately and correctly is crucial to your workouts. By stretching before your exercises, you are making your muscles loose hence preventing pain and injuries. Stretching after workouts will help you avoid stiffness and sores when you wake up the following day. It will rejuvenate your body muscles when working out the next time. Without proper stretches, you are increasing your chances of injuries. Follow these tips for good and guided stretching.